The proof is in:nice guys and gals don't finish last, and being a selfish bastard won't get you ahead. That's the clear conclusion of research that followed obnoxious people—those with selfish, combative, manipulative personalities—from college or graduate school to where they landed in their careers about 14 years later.
“I was surprised by the consistency of the findings. Regardless of the individual or context, unpleasantness gave people no advantage in the struggle for power — even in more cutthroat, 'dog-eat-dog' organizational cultures," said Berkeley Haas professor Cameron Anderson, who co-authored the study. research.
Two longitudinal studies
The researchers conducted two studies of people who had completed personality assessments as undergraduate or MBA students at three universities. They surveyed the same people more than a decade later, asking about their power and rank in their workplace hierarchies, as well as the culture of their organizations. They also asked their colleagues about the behavior and rank of the participants in the workplace. Across the board, they found that those who scored high on unpleasant traits were no more likely to have gained power than those who were generous, trustworthy, and generally kind.
That's not to say pockets don't achieve positions of power. It's just that they don't advance faster than others, and being an asshole just doesn't help, Anderson said. That's because any power boost they get from being intimidated is offset by their poor interpersonal relationships, the researchers found. In contrast, they found that extroverts were most likely to be advanced in their organization, based on their sociability, energy and assertiveness – findings supported by previous research.
Toxic role models The age-old question of whether being aggressive Machiavellian helps people move forward has long interested Anderson, who studies social status. It is a critical question for managers, as extensive research has shown that pockets of power abuse them, prioritize their own interests, create corrupt cultures and ultimately cause their organizations to fail. They also serve as toxic role models for society at large.
For example, people reading the biography of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs might think, “If I become an even bigger bastard, maybe I'll be successful like Steve,” the authors note in their paper.
Defining unpleasantness
What defines a bag? The participants had all completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI), an assessment based on general consensus among psychologists of the five fundamental personality dimensions:openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and acceptability.
"Unpleasantness is a relatively stable aspect of personality that tends to behave in quarrelsome, cold, heartless and selfish ways," the researchers explained. “…Disgusting people tend to be hostile and insult others, cheat and manipulate others for their own gain, and ignore the concerns or welfare of others.”
In the first study, which involved 457 participants, the researchers found no association between power and unpleasantness, regardless of whether the person scored high or low on those traits. This was true regardless of gender, race or ethnicity, industry or the cultural norms in the organization.
Four roads to power
The second study went deeper and looked at the four main ways people gain power:through dominant-aggressive behavior, or through fear and intimidation; political behavior or forming alliances with influential people; common behavior or helping others; and competent behavior, or being good at one's job. They also asked the subjects' colleagues to rate the subjects' places in the hierarchy, as well as their behavior in the workplace. Interestingly, the peer assessments largely matched the self-assessments of the subjects.
